Chile - History

Before the Spanish conquest, several small groups of Amerindians lived
in Chile. Araucanian Amerindians, who came under the influence of the
Incas in the early 15th century, inhabited central and southern Chile.
The conquistador Pedro de Valdivia founded Santiago in 1541, and brought
Chile north of the Bío-Bío River under Spanish rule. The
Araucanians resisted Spanish rule and killed Valdivia in battle.
Amerindian resistance continued for 350 years, effectively barring
Spanish settlement south of the Bío-Bío. The Araucanians
(also known as Mapuches today) were not subjugated until the early
1880s.

During Spanish rule, Chile was subject to the viceroyalty of Peru.
Later, the territory was given the status of captaincy-general and was
largely administered from Santiago.

Chile had one of Latin America's first independence movements. A
cabildo abierto ("town meeting") declared independence in
1810 in response to the French usurpation of the Spanish crown. Rival
independence leaders Bernardo O'Higgins and José Miguel
Carrera fought each other, then were overcome by Spanish troops.
Eventually, Gen. José de San Martín, with O'Higgins
as his chief ally, defeated the Spanish in 1817, and in 1818 Chile
formally proclaimed independence. O'Higgins ruled from 1818 to
1823, during which time he built a navy and consolidated the Chilean
government under his dictatorial regime. However, his anti-clerical and
anti-nobility policies proved to be his undoing.

The next few years saw the growth of two political parties, the
Conservative and the Liberal. While both were narrow elite factions,
they differed in that Liberals favored a parliamentary, secular, federal
system, while Conservatives wanted a traditional, religious, centralized
system. The two groups fought bitterly, plunging Chile into civil strife
until 1830 when Conservative Diego José Victor Portales assumed
control of the political system.

Portales ruled as behind-the-scenes dictator from 1830 until his
assassination in 1837. He launched a successful three-year war with Peru
(1836–39), which destroyed a threatening Bolivian-Peruvian
confederation. He also initiated a Conservative rule, which was to last
until 1861. During that period, Chile's territory expanded with
new claims to Patagonia and the island of Tierra del Fuego, and in 1847,
the founding of Punta Arenas on the Strait of Magellan.

Between 1861 and 1891, the Conservatives were forced to share power with
the Liberals, who had won several legislative victories. A wave of
liberal reforms curtailed the power of the Roman Catholic Church and the
presidential office. At the same time, both parties suffered a series of
splits and realignments. But most notable during this period was
Chile's greatest military achievement. In the War of the Pacific
(1879–83), Chile again fought Peru and Bolivia, this time over
possession of the Atacama Desert and its nitrate deposits. After
victories on land and sea, Chilean forces entered Lima in 1881. By a
treaty signed in 1883, Peru yielded Tarapacá, while Bolivia
surrendered Antofagasta. The disposition of the other contested areas,
Tacna and Arica, was not finally settled until 1929, when, with US
mediation, Tacna went to Peru and Arica to Chile.

The military strongman Gen. Carlos Ibáñez del Campo ruled
Chile from behind the scenes until 1927, then served formally as
president until 1931. US banks loaned large sums to Chilean industry,
and efforts were made to salvage the foundering nitrate trade and boost
the copper sector. World depression struck, however, bringing an end to
foreign loans and a catastrophic drop in world copper prices. A general
strike caused Ibáñez to flee in 1931. After two years
marked by short-lived juntas and

presidencies and a 100-day "socialist republic,"
Alessandri was again elected. In 1891, Jorge Montt, a naval officer, led
a revolt that resulted in eight months of civil war. The triumph of
Montt marked the beginning of a 30-year period of stable parliamentary
rule. Bolstered by nitrate revenues, Chile's national treasury
grew, especially during World War I. But at the same time the seeds of
revolt were sown. Miners, farm workers and factory workers, sharing none
of this prosperity, began to agitate for change. After the war ended,
there was a recession, and the country was on the verge of civil war. In
1920, a coalition of middle and working class groups elected Arturo
Alessandri Palma president. Alessandri, the son of an Italian immigrant,
found himself in between the left's demands for change and the
right's intransigence. He was deposed in a coup in 1924 but
recalled in a countercoup in the following year. His second
administration lasted only six months, but he left the legacy of a new
constitution passed on 18 October 1925. The new system created a strong,
directly elected executive to replace the previous parliamentary system.

Chile pulled out of the depression by 1938, but popular demand for
social legislation remained unsatisfied. The 1938 election was narrowly
won by Radical Party member Pedro Aguirre Cerda, running under the
banner of a catchall coalition called the "Popular Front."
His ambitious "new deal" program was never enacted, as
Aguirre found himself in the crossfire of Chilean politics. His
coalition dissolved formally in January 1941, and Aguirre died in
November. In 1942, the Radicals won election easily over former dictator
Ibáñez.

Juan Antonio Ríos governed moderately amid political conflict
aroused by World War II. Ríos at first cooperated with Argentina
in toning down the US-sponsored anti-Axis program but later led his
country into a pro-Allied position, entering the war on the side of the
United States in 1944. After World War II, Chile went into an
inflationary cycle, and riots and strikes broke out throughout the
country. Ríos died in 1946, and a special election brought to
power a coalition of Communists and former Popular Front supporters
under Gabriel González Videla. González's coalition
soon broke down, as the Communists organized demonstrations and strikes.
Within months, González fired the three Communists he had
appointed to cabinet positions. He then broke off relations with the
Soviet Union, and outlawed the Communist party. Strikes and violence
grew, and Chile, an example of stability by Latin American standards for
so long, seethed with tensions. Chile's pursuit of
industrialization, which had started with the Aguirre and Ríos
administrations, had led to increasing social problems as the cities
bulged with unemployable rural workers. As the cost of living soared,
the radicalism of the workers intensified.

The 1952 election brought the 75-year-old Carlos Ibáñez
del Campo back to power. The ex-dictator, who had been plotting to
return to power for years, defeated González Videla by exploiting
a split among the Radicals and the disaffected Communists. Despite his
reputation as an authoritarian and his connection with
Argentina's Perón, Ibáñez ruled
democratically until 1958.

By 1958, the cost of living had soared and Chile's trade balance
had moved from a large surplus to a deficit. Evidence of a general
discontent could be seen in the 1958 presidential election. A narrow
victory was won by Jorge Alessandri Rodríguez (a son of President
Arturo Alessandri Palma), who received support from both Liberals and
Conservatives. The Socialist Salvador Allende Gossens, supported by his
own party and the newly legalized Communist Party, won 29% of the vote
(compared with only 5% in 1952), and Eduardo Frei Montalva, candidate of
the new Christian Democratic Party (Partido Demócrata
Cristiano—PDC), ran third with 20% of the vote.

Aware of popular pressure for reform, Alessandri drew up a 10-year
development plan, initiated in 1959 with construction projects, tax
reforms, and a token start at agrarian reform. A devastating earthquake
and tidal wave in 1960 cut drastically into Alessandri's
programs, and his government was unable to regain momentum. In 1964, the
traditional parties of the right and center lost strength to a wave of
reform sentiment that shifted public attention to a choice between the
socialist Allende and the moderate reformer Frei. In September 1964,
Frei was elected by an absolute majority, and congressional elections in
March 1965 gave the PDC a majority in the Chamber of Deputies and a
plurality in the Senate.

The Frei government implemented numerous social and structural reforms.
These included educational reform, land reform and a scheme to create a
majority Chilean interest in Chile's copper mines. Frei became a
cornerstone of the Alliance for Progress, a harsh critic of communism,
and a leading exponent of Christian democracy. However, the reforms did
not deliver as hoped, and overall economic growth was sporadic. The Frei
administration was not able to control the endemic inflation that had
plagued Chile for more than 80 years.

In the 1970 presidential election there were three contenders: Jorge
Alessandri, PDC candidate Radomiro Tomic, and the Socialist Senator
Salvador Allende. Allende, who was supported by Popular Unity, a leftist
coalition that included the Communist Party, received 36.5% of the total
vote. Alessandri followed with 35.2%, and Tomic with 28%, with 0.3% of
the ballots left blank as a protest. Since no candidate received a
majority of the popular vote, Congress was required by the constitution
to select the president from the two leading candidates. The PDC
supported Allende in exchange for a promise of full constitutional
guarantees. The victory was unique in that for the first time in the
Western Hemisphere, a Marxist candidate took office by means of a free
election. Dr. Allende, inaugurated on 3 November 1970, called for a
socialist economy, a new, leftist constitution, and full diplomatic and
trade relations with Cuba, China, and other Communist countries. It was
later revealed through US congressional investigations and independent
journalistic inquiries that the United States, with the help of the
International Telephone and Telegraph Corp. (ITT), had secretly worked
to thwart the election and confirmation of Allende.

The first full year of rule by Allende witnessed a rise in economic
prosperity and employment, as well as an improvement in the standard of
living of the poorer elements of the population. Allende expropriated US
copper interests, and turned large rural landholdings into peasant
communes. By 1972, however, the economy began to lag, and the situation
was aggravated by middle- and upper-class resentment over the
government's seizures of industrial and agricultural property. In
June 1973, against a backdrop of strikes and street brawls beginning in
the previous year, an abortive coup attempt was staged by a rightist
army contingent. Throughout this period, the US Central Intelligence
Agency had secretly supported the 1972 and 1973 strikes and
disturbances, especially the truckers' strike, which had caused
nationwide shortages of food and consumer goods.

On 11 September 1973, the Allende government was violently overthrown.
Allende himself died—officially reported as a suicide. A four-man
junta headed by Gen. Augusto Pinochet Ugarte seized power, dissolved
Congress, banned all political activities, and declared that Marxism
would be eradicated in Chile. At least 3,000 and possibly as many as
10,000 people were killed or "disappeared" without a trace
during and immediately after the coup. The military declared a state of
siege and assumed dictatorial powers.

During its 16 years in power, the military attempted to eradicate not
only Marxism, but all vestiges of leftism, trade unionism, reformism,
and, for that matter, any other deviation from the official military
line. High on their list of priorities was the privatization of the
Chilean economy, which had gradually become more dependent on the state
over three decades, a movement that had accelerated dramatically under
Allende. This included the attracting of foreign investment, virtually
untouched by government regulations or requirements. With unions under
siege, workers' rights rapidly eroded under the regime.

This powerful dose of economic liberalization was administered within a
continuously authoritarian political system. After the original state of
siege was lifted in 1978, Chile continued under a "state of
emergency" until another state of siege was declared from
November 1984 to June 1985. A third state of siege was in effect from
September 1986 to January 1987, after a failed assassination attempt
against Pinochet. At each denial of democracy, the Pinochet government
insisted that it was not yet done with the task of
"redeeming" Chile, and that full political rights could
not be restored until then. A constitution that outlawed the advocacy of
Marxism and gave Pinochet eight more years of rule was passed by 67% of
voters in 1980.

Although forced to operate clandestinely, an opposition nevertheless
emerged. A collection of political factions found common cause with the
Roman Catholic Church, forming a group called the Civic Union. The
Church had become increasingly critical of the Pinochet regime, despite
the latter's insistence that Catholicism was the cornerstone of
the new Chile. When Pope John Paul II visited Chile in 1987, he brought
accusations of torture and other human rights abuses. Finally, in 1988,
Pinochet was pressured to call for a plebiscite to determine whether he
should become president for another eight years. In February 1988, 16
political parties came together to form the "Coalition for the
'No'." In October 1988, Pinochet was soundly
defeated, and in 1989 new elections were held. Christian Democrat
Patricio Aylwin, running as the candidate of a 17-party Concert of
Parties for Democracy (Concertación de Partidos por la
Democracia) received 55.2% of the vote and assumed office in 1990. The
election was hailed as a victory for democracy, but Chile remained under
the watchful eye of the military. Pinochet, who remained head of the
armed forces, retained enormous power.

The general resisted Aylwin's efforts to place the military
firmly under civilian control, and threatened a return to military rule
if any of his officers were prosecuted for human rights violations. The
Truth and Reconciliation Commission, established during the Aylwin
administration, recorded 1,102 disappearances and 2,095 executions and
death from torture during the dictatorship years. Those figures did not
include thousands of others who were detained, tortured, and exiled.

Little could be done to prosecute military abuses. Aylwin's
administration was hampered by the constitution approved during the
military regime. Pinochet had engineered the constitution to his favor,
allowing the regime to appoint eight senators for life in the new
government. With eight pro-military senators, the Senate's
democratic coalition was unable to reach a majority and make
constitutional changes. Military leaders also pushed through an Amnesty
Law, which covered human rights abuses between 1973 and 1978. The
Supreme Court remained under the control of judges sympathetic to the
former military regime.

In the December 1993 presidential elections, The Concertación
backed Christian Democratic Party candidate Eduardo Frei Ruiz-Tagle, the
son of former President Eduardo Frei Montalva. With more than 58% of the
vote, Frei continued the economic policies of his predecessor, with an
even greater emphasis on social spending. It was estimated that about
one million Chileans emerged from poverty in the first half of the
decade. The Frei regime also emphasized privatization of state-owned
enterprises, protection of foreign investment, and trade liberalization.
Chile remained the world's leading producer and exporter of
copper, but with a greatly diversified export base. By 1998 the nation
had achieved 15 consecutive years of economic growth. After a short
recession in 1999, growth resumed in 1999 but at lower rates.

While the country's commitment to democratic, representative
government appeared secure and stable, Pinochet remained a feared
political figure in Chile, and an impediment to real democratic reforms.
In 1998, Pinochet retired as head of the military and became a senator
for life. Despite eight years of democratic government, relations
between the government and the military, which continued to assert its
independence, remained tense. In October 1998, Pinochet traveled to
London for back surgery. At the request of Spanish authorities, British
police arrested Pinochet, who was recovering at a private hospital. A
Spanish judge wanted to take Pinochet back to Spain to try him on
charges of torture, kidnapping, genocide, and murder. The arrest became
a major international incident, and shocked Chileans, most of whom
thought Pinochet was untouchable. Other European countries sought to
extradite Pinochet, whose detention strained relations between Chile,
England, and Spain. Following a lengthy legal battle that stretched
across two continents and three nations, a London court in October 1999
ruled Pinochet could be extradited to Spain to stand trial on one charge
of conspiracy to torture and 34 charges of torturing individual
Chileans. Back in Chile, the armed forces remained loyal to Pinochet,
and his arrest raised tensions between the military and the government.
Yet, in his absence, Chilean politics were changing dramatically. While
he languished in detention in England, dozens of military and police
officers accused of human rights violations were arrested in Chile.
Threatened by Supreme Court actions, the military began to talk directly
to human rights lawyers. Some military leaders acknowledged that
victims' families had a right to know what happened to the
"disappeared." In March 2000, after 16 months in
detention, the 84-year-old Pinochet was released. British authorities
cited humanitarian reasons, saying Pinochet was medically unfit to stand
trial. Pinochet returned to Chile, where he faced more than 70 criminal
charges and efforts to remove him as senator for life. Chilean courts
eventually ruled that he was unfit to stand trial in Chile for health
reasons. He was forced to resign from the Senate and retired from public
life. He currently lives in Santiago but does not appear in public or
make public statements.

During his absence, the Concertación had backed the Socialist
Ricardo Lagos for President. Joaquín Lavín, the
conservative candidate, distanced himself from the hard politics of
Pinochet and appealed for votes among Chile's poorest. Strains
were beginning to show in the center-left coalition, which had ruled the
country since 1990. Early in the campaign, Lavín, a former member
of Pinochet's government, was not considered a strong candidate
against Lagos. But both men finished tied in the December 1999 election,
forcing a runoff election a month later. In the second round, Lagos
captured 51.3% to narrowly defeat Lavín, who obtained 48.69% of
the vote. With the victory, Lagos became the first Socialist to hold
office since Allende. Lagos is a reformed Socialist who distanced
himself from Allende's Marxist ideas. More of a social democrat
similar in political style to England's Tony Blair, Lagos
promised moderate policies and no changes to the nation's
free-market economy. During the 1999 presidential campaign, the Chilean
economy faced its worse recession in 20 years, with unemployment
reaching 11%. By 2003, the country showed signs of recovery three years
into Lagos presidency. Ambitious programs of new infrastructure, health
reform, judicial reform and educational reform were moving forward but
the government was hurt when accusations of corruption surfaced that
resulted in the indictments of several government coalition legislators
and former cabinet ministers. The signing of a Free Trade Agreement with
the European Union and a much-awaited Free Trade Pact with the United
States have helped boost Lagos's popularity and have consolidated
Chile as the most open economy in the region. Although many expect the
conservative opposition to win the 2005 presidential election, after a
16-year rule by the governing Concertación coalition, the
municipal elections in 2004 will be a prime opportunity for the Lagos
government to transform his popularity into a new electoral victory for
his coalition.

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